Cresta Advisors Ltd. Acquires 182 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cresta Advisors Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,522 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Cresta Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $3,035,987,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $495.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $509.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.